Squaw

The word Squaw [ skwɔ ː ] in the now-extinct Eastern Algonquian languages ​​of New England, the word for "woman." It was borrowed from the Massachusett language into English in the 17th century and called there today an Indian woman.

Stem in Algonquian languages

The root word (renewed great- Algonquian * eθkwe ː wa) occurs in virtually all Algonquian languages ​​with the original meaning of " woman " on. So it says on Massachusett squa ( ussqua, eshqua ), on Narragansett squaw ( eskwa ) iskwēw on Cree, xkwē in the Lenape languages ​​( əxkwew ) ikwe in Shawnee ekwēwa and Ojibwe, on the other hand, Cheyenne hee ( he'eo ' o).

Racist connotation of Lehnworts

In the mid- 1990s came to a soon supported by many Indian organizations campaign that declared the word to a racist insult ( Ethnophaulismus ), calling for it to be banished from the general usage and the numerous places in the U.S. that contain the word rename, . The campaign was based on the assertion that the word of the Iroquois name for vagina (about Mohawk ojiskwa ) was derived. Although this etymology is scientifically untenable, place names were actually changed in Minnesota and Arizona.

Another version says that the word " squaw " was transformed by the whites into a dirty word for Indian women of white settlers. Due to the lack woman in the border areas in the west often came to such partnerships.